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Guide: Character Development and Power choice implications
I am seeing some confusion about how exactly character development works out so this is a guide to talk about, quickly, about character development. There is stuff on the Champions official forum in more detail this is meant to give a borad overview and more to the point talk the implications of this system.
- Superstats at level 5 and 13 you get two choose a super stat. You may not choose the same stat twice. These stats will increase as you level and they will determine the damage bonuses your power recieve. This is in addition to the whatever effects normally have. The reccomend stats for a framework can be misleading please read this post for a discussion:
forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php
Note: Superstats are not the sole determiner of damage as Dex, STR, and Ego may all play a role
- You get 14 power by level 40. This may seem like a lot, but there are other considerations.
- Some powers scale with certain stats. For example Personal Force Fields total HP is affected by Endurance and its regeneration rate is affected by Ego. Invulnerability has its %resistance and its damage buffer affected by STR /Con. The defensive passives are currently very important. Therefore stat choice is important.
- You get 36 Advantage points by level 40. One power rank cost 2 points, as do most but not all advantages. This would allow you to make every power rank 2 but only 4 powers to rank 3. Or 9 powers at Rank 3 and everything else rank 1. Powers are radically affected by ranks and advantages. Advantages give extra abilities. Ranks make a power more effective. However occasionally ranks also add new effects. For example Marital Arts has a melee snare that becomes AOE at Rank 3. The difference between this attack at Rank 1 is 300 hp single target damage vs 500 hp AOE target damage. The advantages can radically change a power for example Ego Sprites advantage goes from a large PBAOE DoT to adding in a stacked HoT for the damage you caused to each creature (if it goes its whole course).
-Champions allows everyone to choose a "Role" instead of having archetypes. These Roles affect power choice. Defensive passives cannot be used in the DPS role. This means you give up roughly 20% DPS to use a defensive passive. Offensive Passive cannot be used in the Tank Role. Support passives need the support roles. And you may only slot one passive.
So what does all this mean for character development. First off you cannot rank up all 14 powers to max rank and all the advantages. You may not even be able to take an advantage and get to rank 3 perhaps just Rank 2. As you can see in my example above this is quite important you may lose 25% of your damage from not ranking up to 3 from 2.
Similarly the advantages you take can be very important or merely nice to have. But if you build around having a lot of advantages across a lot of powers you will have powers of lesser rank.
Secondly your stat choice can be very important. If you choose super stats that have no effect on damage such as Endurance and Con, even though these still affect damage you can be doing considerably less damage than someone who went STR/Dex or Dex/Ego. Not only that but your defense may radically change. Maximizing Invulnerability which uses Str/Con necessarily will mean that your crit rate is probably fairly low even though you have overall pretty good melee damage due to the extra boost from Str.
Do Not Be Fooled by the Large Number of Powers
It is tempting to say "Oh sweet 14 powers I can build the ultimate tank mage do everything character". Well you can try. But don't be surprised when some other guy who specialized with the right stats and ranked key powers up to max rank zooms past you in damage. Similarly don't be surprised when someone is strangely much tougher than the character you thought was pretty darn tough.
You should have enough power to make something Tank Mage like. Ie. something with a skill set for good survival and good DPS. But does that mean you will be maximized in both. That is not that likely. If you want to be the toughest hombre around you will almost certain have to make DPS sacrifices or functionality sactifices. These sacrifices will not come in the form of power choices for the most part. They will more likely show up in the form of lesser ranks and Stat stacking compromises from gear or superstat choice.
Cookie Cutter
Certain power choices will affect your entire build design. This will depend but one of the most consistent is your choice of Defense Passive. This will probably affect your Stat choice and power choice (ie. mitigation is a better backup for regen than more healing, and healing is a better back up for invuln). Will there be cookie cutter builds? Sure there always is because many people don't want to make their own stuff. But more relevant is that certain powers are hinge points. You do not have to take regeneration. Yes currently lightning reflexes sucks. But there are at least 3 viable defensive passives with their own pros and cons and different stats. In addition there are some active defenses and heals that you can choose to supplemnt your defense with.
Certain combinations of power will and do combine naturally well together and these will most likely become cookie cutter type themes. But it is important to realize that once again power choice itself is not the be all end
The Tank Mage Effect
So I have seen some people show concerns over the Tank Mage effect, ie. characters with everything they need and therefore no real reason or role in groups. Can you be a Tank Mage in CO. Yes in a way, if you make a balanced build with good offense and good defense you can be a real monster.
But is this the Tank Mage effect. Tank Mage comes from UO where the Mage part was great damage and defense and you couldn't get much better. This is NOT true of CO if you want maximal damage or defense you must make some kind of sacrifice. On its face the powers say tank mage, but then you are forgetting stats and ranks. Throwing that out the window throws off your values by 50% or more when it comes to damage. In addition there are some pretty nice advantages that add functionality and each time you opt for one you trade more functionality for less effectiveness since ranks and advantages use the same points.
But for anyone who is familiar with Scrappers from CoH is this really all that different? I don't think so. If you want to make a Rikti War Zone Challenge level CO Scrapper like character you will most likely wind up with something that has very close to the same functionality/ability as the CoH version. Could that character maybe save a space for a passive support aura that ups everyone else's damage? Yes but to do that they have to take out their defensive passive, Tank part is gone, and they have to be in support mode lose -20% damage, mage part reduced. Could they take a heal power? Sure but they will not be as good as real healing character because their Presecnce is low and they need their energy for other things anyway.
So yes you can make a Scrapper or you can make a Blaster with a Scrappers defense. But the Tank mage Effect and the generalist "I can do everything" temptation is not what it may first seem. Don't be fooled by power choice, this is not CoH.
Comments
Interesting article! Thank you. I hope you keep posting elaborations. I can not wait to see the many build guides that will spawn for this game.
I will be puzzling for months about the right combos to match my style of play. I was trying to explain to my daughter who is a dyed in the wool COH player that I thought their goal was "You cannot make a bad choice".
In COH, there are certain powers if you don't take them you are "Gimped", for instance Hasten seems like a core power to everyone.
In this game, I think the goal was that you could not make a 'bad' choice, just a 'different' one. No two heroes are going to be exactly alike with all these options.
I was playing in the Beta with a build I thought really rawked, and I had beaten several people in pvp. Then I come up against a guy close to my level and pvp and he basically drank my milkshake. I don't know what he had chosen for powers, but I was really impressed. I didn't feel there was 'twinking' like I would have in WOW "Oh you had a +100 HP enchant on your 5th level guys hat", I felt that guy had simply out strategized me.
I admit freely, I enjoy the challenge of solo play and perhaps this is one reason I feel like Cartman wanting to go into hibernation until the head start begins so I can get started playing my long term characters.
Rather than write up another entry pimping mine, I think I'll bump yours.
My own tips to Champions Online character generation here.
It's actually pretty close to the opposite of the original poster's advice in that I'm pretty much giving instructions on how to produce a pretty effective tank mage with tons of versatility.
However, I'd say either path is actually pretty viable. Champions Online is an interesting game in that you can pretty much define the kind of play experience you ant based off of how you build your character.
My advice will generally just steer you clear of heroes who spent a lot of time faceplanting or accruing redundant powers.
That is all very good beginner advice, but I think its also important for anyone who has used the system for a while to NOT follow any guidlines when designing a character. Playing with thematic powers and a passive from your set (most passive powers are NOT defensive) it can make your combat experience much more tactical. It can make the whole game more enjoyable. Its easy to build a boring character than can breeze through the game, but its just not as fun IMO.
Good advise! I just add a few advise from my personal experience.
First, be sure to think about the Travel Power you chose. While all are cool to play, if you want to group later on, IMO only flight based travel powers are viable, because it is VERY difficult to follow a group where all are flight based and you only have superspeed or swing or digging. I know, they are cool, but in the end, trust me, when you plan to group you DO want have flight, hovering disc or anything that KEEPS you in the air to plan coordinated movement with your group.
Personally I would not take Teleport, Superspeed or Superjump at all. Teleport has a timer and is locked every time ANYONE in your group is in a fight, and the teleport timer is long. Superspeed is fun but entirely narrows you down to the ground. Same for digging, but at least digging (or burrowing as its called I think) allows you to stay unseen under the ground so you can move at your leisure. Superjump is kinda slow, and like with Superspeed you always end up within some mobs slowing you down. Trust me, in the long run only air based travel powers really pay off. The only exception is Acrobatics, but that too is not so good for grouping. Trust me, one of my mains was Acrobatics user, and in those flight grouping experiences in MC I always was the one the group had to wait for. Not cool.
Second, be sure to have a self-heal above level 20. Anything. Otherwise you will often sit in some corner waiting for the health to regen. I prefer a continual self-heal, which needs less attention. IMVPO nothing could beat those Healing Drones from Gadgeteering, because they heal group members also. They are bit of annoying since there is not collision and they will over on the exact spot as your head, make you sorta look like a Robot-head guy, but technically they are the best self-heal in this game, as you can fight and need not pay attention to kick in healing manually.
Finally, beyond level 18 or 20, you will have all powers you need from your powerset. Plan very carefully what other powers you take. Look at you possible weaknesses. If you have long distance attacks you may want something to kick away the enemy, like from "Power", or if you are melee something to root the enemy. In the end you will usually apply the same 2-3 powers all the way to 40, so be sure to know how to best use them by complementing them with good powers that fit. I know, it sorta ruins the theme idea. You may stick to one theme, but that prolly will hinder you if you seek for ideal power performance.
To be clear I am not giving any real specific build advice. More the opposite, ie. warning people to stay away from certain tempting conclusions. If I were to sum up the OP in a few sentences it would be :
If you want to be a UO-style Tank Mage then you need to do it in 9 powers and not use any advantages. And even if you do you will still not be the best at DPS because you not in the Avenger role and Avenger role is not a Tank Mage.
There is the temptation to believe that because you made a real beast of character that you have made a tank mage or the best around. No this is false. A group of three people with specilizations will be better at each part than your Beast. You cannot be maximal Defense and Maximal offense, the Avenger role is a 20% damage buff that is a lot. And without a defensive passive you will be much much less defensive than you could be. Tank Mages are most likely going to use Protetor or Balanced roles. If you are good on energy you will use the tank role as the damage is the same but energy consumption is greater.
Similarly there is a temptation to think 14 powers = awesome-sauce. Well no because if you take even say 5 advantages you probably only rank up like 5 to rank 3 and your others are like rank 1 and again you have lost 20-40% of your damage or defense.
Can you make a character with 14 powers and like 5 advantages and only rank 2 powers that is a badass? Yes I am almost 100% sure you can make a char that seriously messes up some PvE mobs with such a build. However do not be under the impression this is the "best" or even close. A full on DPS spec in Avenger with a Support character in his party with a +Damage aura and good presence and healing will do probably 75% or maybe even double your very respectable damage and have good survivability too since th support guys will literally heal for double what a generalist will (especially since presence is otherwise a crappy stat). The damage aura is going to be +25%, Avenger is +20%, and then the enhanced rank is another 20%, if the stats choices fall in their favor that can be 20-40% more damage dpending on stats. I mean that is seriously huge. And I am not even making up numbers, those are the real number (ballpark from memory).
Now perhaps on average that damage/2 = your single person damage. But if you are talking say PvP where you need to spike kill someone really fast it starts to become very important as its behavior is different. Or PvE with a full group of 6 and that support guy is enhancing 3 DPS guys. etc etc.
I mean we are not talking like a 20% difference here. We are literally talking somewhere close to double the damge from an individual. There is no way that I know of for a generalist solo build to come close to the kind of damage a full on specialized with support DPS character. Even with a real elegant build where the tank Mage gets his main attack to rank 3 we are talking like 50%. And at the very least 20%. Yes that tank mage in a group could opt for Avenger, but then he his not a Tank Mage anymore he has lost a TON of hp and has no defenisve passive running.
Now go look at a game like Aion and tell me the % difference between a Cleric (the main healer) and a Ranger (a ranged DPS/CC class) it is not that large of a difference. Its more like 30%.
You can be a very powerful Scrapper like solo character. You can play that in groups just like Scrappers in CoH do and it can be effective. You can have an entire group of them just like people do in CoH. But this is not the optimal configuration and with out the use of specializations in both rank and group roles you will be quite far behind some else in damage or defense. Of course you will probably match in both combined.
If you spread out ranks too far you will lose a significnat amount of defense or damage. If you overlook that roles and what things like support aura can do you are missing out on a signifncant amount. This does not invalidate the Scrapper-like builds. Scrappers are extremely popular in CoH because they are so self-sufficient.
But it is false to believe that these builds are the "best". In fact they can be quite far behind certain configuration in particular areas.
I like self-sufficent builds I will be making many of them. But I also know that the proper specialized configuration inside a group will be able to crit more often for larger damage and do about double my DPS of my tank mage configuration in a solo setting.
I am also going to experiment with a build that stay in avenger and survives through crowd control and spot healing. I dunno if that will work but its also not really a tank mage as he would fold like a lawn chair from spike damage. This one will be closer in damage but still less. However that is far more like a Blaster or controller than a scrapper.
I am not warning people away from builds like these. In fact I expect them to be the norm and that is fine. What is good to understand is that these really are just the norm even if they are powerful. If you want DPS and have no other considerations, there are other heights you can reach in that realm. Same with tougness.
Hybrid builds are often considered very powerful in most MMOs and that is fine, but if you have a decent tank in a group and you are not in Avenger role and only 50% of your attacks are Rank 3 then don't be under any illusions. Even if your character destroys PvE when you are solo you are quite far behind a specialized DPS character who is in avenger and has all rank 3. Like easily 40% behind on Damage.